Process of extracting sugar constituents.



110.720,600. Y PATENTBD MAY19,1900.

L. 100.00m.` PROCESS 0F BXTRAGTING SUGAR ooNsTITUBNTs.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2,7. 1900.

UNITED STATES Y Patented May 19, 1903. PATENT OFFICE.

LEON NAUDET, oF PARIsrEANoE.

PROCESS OF EXTRACTING SUGAR CONSTITUENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 728,600, dated May 19,1903. Appnmion fuea July 27,1900. serial No. 25.047. (No Specimens.;

To all whom it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, LEON NAUDET, a citizen of the Republic of France,residing at Paris, France, (whose post-office address is 146 BoulevardMagenta, Paris,) have invented cer-V tain new and useful Improvements inProcesses of Extracting the Sugar Constituents of Saccharine Bodies, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a process for extracting the sugar constituentfrom divided portions of the sugar-beet, sugar-cane, orV

juice-is caused to flow through a seriesof cells containing cut slicesof the sugar-beet or divided portions of the sugar-cane or othermaterial and through a series of heaters, the cells and heaters arrangedalternately in series, so that the sugar-juice afterpassing a cellwillbe heated by the succeeding heater to a certain definedtemperature-. e., between 75 and 80D centigrade-before being dischargedinto the next cell. The sugar-juice after passing through successivecells and heaters of the battery is introduced into a cell containingfresh material at the temperature of the atmosphere, and nallydischarged from the battery as it leaves this cell. This mode ofoperation has been foun d objectionable, owing to the fact that when thejuice' heated at from '75 to 80 centigrade is introduced into the coldcell containing the cold materialsv the temperature of the juice isreduced to the mean between that of the juice and that of the cold mass,with the result that an imperfect extraction takes place of the sugarconstituent of the material contained in such cold cell, and owing tothe fact that in order to obtain the proper osmotic eect between thesugar contained in the cells of the material acted on and thesugar-juice brought in contact therewith the temperature must be above75 centigrade and below 100o centigrade. A further objection to the modeof operation as described is found in the fact that When the sugar-juiceleaves the cold cell its temperature has been so reduced that it becomesgummy, and a proper admixture of alkali employed prior to the deliveryof the juice to thevvessel for acid treatment or neutralization cannotbe successfully accomplished.

In order to overcome the objections stated, as well as other objections,I have devised the following method of operation, which I will nowdescribe.

My improved method diifers from that described in that the material inthe cold cell is first mashed by introducing hot sugarjuice and thenheated by the forced circulation of such sugar-juice through it toapproxi- `vmately 77 centigrade before such cold cell is connected in`series with the other cells of the battery as the last or delivery celland the sugar-juice which has passed successively throughA the/othercells of the battery sent through it. The practicaleffect of this changeis that when the hot sugar-juice, which has traversed the other., cellsof the battery at a maintained temperature, reaches this last cell-i.e., the cold cell-heated the temperature of the sugar-j uice and that ofthe mashed materialin the cell is approximately the same, which, asbefore stated, is the condition which experience has demonstrated to bethe most favorable for osmosis and the extraction of the sugarconstituent from the material acted upon. enriched and. filtered inpassing through the fresh material of the heated cold cell and leavesthe cell at approximately the temperature of 'the cell,the juice asdelivered from thebatterygtherefore, being in the condition `bestadapted for the subsequent treatmentvrby liming, carbonization, `dto.

To carry my invention into effect, I may make use of the followingapparatus, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and inwhich- Figure l is an elevation of a series of diffuser-cells andheaters, an interposed pipe system, overflowtank,and circulating-pump;Fig. 2, a plan view.

I wish it understood that I do not limit my- Further, the sugar-juicehas been IOO self in any wise to the special apparatus illustrated, asit will be manifest that many different types of apparatus may beemployed to carry out the process.

Referring to the drawings, 5 5a 5b 5c indicate the diuser-cells. Anynumber of cells may constitute a battery. Usually from ten to twelvecells are employed. These cells are shown as arranged in successiveorder. They may be arranged in any required order-as, for instance, in acircle, a square, or otherwise. Situated in proximity to eachdiffusercell is a heater 6. These heaters may be of any construction. Ihave shown the heater as supplied with a heating-coil 7, which isassumed to he connected to a source of steam. The diuser-cells 5 5L 55C, &c., are assumed to contain a mass'of divided material containingsugar constituents-such, for instance, as slices of the sugar-beet,portions of the sugar-cane, or other sugarbearing material. It will beunderstood that the cells 5 5a 5b 5c are adapted to be lled with freshmaterial in successive or other order, as de-V sired, and that any oneof these cells may be considered the last or cold cell of the series.

8 indicates a pipe through which water is introduced by means of thebranch pipes 9 into the top of the cells 5 5 5b 5c, &c.; 10, valves inthe pipe 8; 1l, pipe into which the sugar juice is discharged afterpassing through the cells 5 5a 5b 5, dsc., and heater 6; 12, branchpipebetween heaters 6 and pipe 1l; 13, valves in pipe 11; 14, pipeinterposed between the pipe l2 at the top of the heater and the top ofthe next cell in the series-as, for instance, between pipe 12 and cell5a; 15, valves in pipes 14; 16, overflow-tank, arranged at a sutiicientheight above the cells to balance the pressure of the liquid in any oneof the cells when the forcing-pump is in operation; 17, pipe systeminterposed between pipes 9 at each cell and overflow-tank 16; 18, pipeconnected to the ind notion-orifice of pump 19 and through branch pipes2O to the top of each heater G; 2l, Valves in pipes 20; 22, pipeconnected between the eduction-oritice of pump 19 and the upper end ofthe supplemental heater 6a; 23, pipe connected to the lower end of thesupplemental heater Ga and through branch pipes 24 with the top of thecells 5 5 5b 5, the.; 25, valves in pipes 24.

My improved mode of operation is as follows: Assuming the cell 5 to havebeen cut out of circulation with the other cells, which can be effectedby closing valve 10 in pipe 8, valve 15 in pipe 14, and valve 13 in pipe11, and this cell to be the cold cell, into which a fresh mass ofdivided material has been introduced, and the cell filled with hotsugarjuice taken from the circulation, the ordinary circulation of thebattery, exclusive of this cell, will be as follows: by pipe 8, throughpipe 9, to top of cell 5, thence from bottom of cell 5, through heater6, by pipe 12, pipe 11, (passing around, but not through the cell 5%) topipe 12 of cell 5b, thence through heater 6, upward through cell 5b,thence by pipe 9, through pipe 8, by pipe 9, to top of cell 5C, frombottom of cell 5C, through heater 6, through pipe 12,and so on throughthe remaining cells of the battery, to be discharged into the usualmeasuring-tank. At this time the valves 2l 25 in pipes 2O 24, leadingfrom the cold cell 5, are open. This puts this cell into the circuit ofthe pump 19, which being in operation draws the sugar-juice, which hasbecome cold from contact with the cold material in the cell, from thebottom of the cell upward through the heater 6, thence by pipe 2O andpipe 18 to the induction-orifice of the pump 19, thence through theeduction-oritice of the pump to pipe 22, heater 69, pipe 23, pipe 24, tothe top of the cell 5a. The sugar-juice in passing through the heaters 6and 6 is raised to and maintained at the required temperature. Inpractice I prefer to cause the heated sugar-j nice to he forced throughthe material in the cold cell three or more times in a downwarddirection or until the temperature of the material in the cell has beenraised to approximately 77 centigrade. I do not limit myself, however,to the precise number of times that the iuid shall be circulated nor tothe direction of the circulation. As the sugarjuice expands under theaction of the heaters 6 6 the surplus beyond the capacity of the cell 5ais carried through pipe system 17 to the overiiow-tank 16.

I have described my improved method of operation as carried out throughthe cell 5a. Mauifestly any one of the cells may be the final or coldcell and be included in a separate circuit with the pump 19 andsupplemental heater 6a.

It will be seen from the above statement that the materialcontained inthe last cell, whichever it may be, is subjected to the action of juiceof the required temperature to produce the best osmotic effects, and,further, that by circulating the juice under pressure through thematerial in the cell the juice is largely freed by filtration of allgummy or other materials which are objectionable in the juice whendelivered from the diusion apparatus.

In an ordinary diffusion process acting upon beets the sugar-juiceleaving the diuser is usually black in color.l By my improved processthe juice is delivered from the diffuser in a very much bettercondition, being bright and clear and at the temperature and in thecondition required to be combined with the required alkali beforecarbonation treatment.

A further advantage of myimproved method of operation is found in thefact that much less water is required to effect complete extraction ofthe sugar constituents from sugar-bearing bodies than is commonlyemployed, which fact is of great practical importance, as a smalleramount of fuel and less time is nec- IOO IIO

essary to effect the vaporization of the contained Water of the juice inthe subsequent treatment.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. A method of extracting thesugar constituent from saccharine bodies, which consists in causing abody of liquid at the required temperature to traverse acellotI adiffusion battery containing a sugarbearing body until suchsugar-bearing body has been heated to approximately 77 o centigrade,then coupling said cell in the circulation of the other cells of thebattery and in such manner that it shall be the last cell of the series.

2. A method of extracting the sugar constituent from saccharine bodies,which consists in causing a body of liquid at the required temperature,to be circulated under pressure through a cell of a diusion-batterycontaining a sugar-bearing body until such sugar-bearing body has beenheated to approximately 77 centigrade, then coupling said cell in thecirculation of the other cells of the battery, and in such manner thatit shall be the last cell of the series.

bearing body which has been heated to approximately the temperature ofthe circulating juice before being connected with the other cellsof theseries.

4. Thev diiusion method described for ob-` taining saccharine juicesfrom bodies containing such materials, which consists in subjecting thematerials to the action of a circulating iuid at a maintainedtemperature,suc

`cessively cutting the respective cells of the battery out ofcirculation asthe contained material is exhausted, filling said cut-outcell with fresh material, heating the material of said cell toapproximately the temperature 0f the other cells of the battery, cuttingthis cell into the circulation of the battery, and finally drawing therich saccharine juice from the battery through this last-introducedcell.

5. A step in the method described, which consists in heating a cold bodyof sugar-bearing material, contained in a cell forming a part of adiffusion-battery, to approximately the temperature of the liquidpassing through the battery before coupling such cell in the circuit ofthe other cells.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in presence of twosubscribing Witnesses, this 17th day of July, 1900.

LEON NAUDET.

Witnesses:

GEORGES DELoM, EDWARD P. MACLEAN.

